"I don't know about that," he writes cautiously. "This is all suspicion, anyway. I must say, though, after a candidate and several incumbents have been hurt, one way or another, it might take a brave, a foolish, or a confident man to run in the next election. Particularly if there are more of these," the pen pauses for a moment, and then he finishes, "peculiar mishaps." Another pause. "I've no idea whether the ill-fortune will be confined to the council or merely centered around it, although I'd suspect the latter. Those who form the model for my suspicion would have created as large a cloud of terror as they could have while still driving their message home."